[RESOLVED] Password hint happyday

My very old mother has an old computer running Windows 7 and I suspect the antivirus is long out of date. She lives a long way from me, so I can't look at the computer, but my sister told me my mother's computer now has a login set (she never had to log in) and the password hint is happyday. I'm suspecting the worst. She's going to have a guy look at it one of these days. I googled for this password hint but didn't find any ransomware or other malware that uses this particular MO. Any thoughts?

Stuck in the present.

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My very old mother has an old computer running Windows 7 and I suspect the antivirus is long out of date. She lives a long way from me, so I can't look at the computer, but my sister told me my mother's computer now has a login set (she never had to log in) and the password hint is happyday. I'm suspecting the worst. She's going to have a guy look at it one of these days. I googled for this password hint but didn't find any ransomware or other malware that uses this particular MO. Any thoughts?

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Hmmm. This sounds a little familiar. Years ago, a friend of mine bought a Windows 7 laptop from Staples. He was never very computer savvy, so he asked the salesperson to set it up so that he didn't have to enter a password every time he booted Windows. After using it a good 5-6 years, he had a problem and brought it to me to look at. It turns out the Staples employee had set himself as the administrator account and my friend, the owner of the machine, as a guest account. Needless to say, my friend had absolutely no idea of what the administrator password was. Fortunately, I was aware of Ophcrack and was able to find the password for the administrator account.

"When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself." - Tecumseh

"I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws, and upon courts. I believe these are false hopes. Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; and if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it." - Learned Hand

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As I said, unfortunately I'm a long way from the computer, so I can just wait to hear the results. My sister's friend is an independent PC consultant. He used to work for Geek Squad. I'm sure he's capable of diagnosing and repairing the computer. I wish I was there to jump on it and do the magic. I'll follow up with results when I hear them.

Stuck in the present.

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fonzy, how ever its spelled from happy days. try different character names from that tv series happy days.

whatever kids birthday is: ex 01011980 or 0111980
day she got married or anniversary:

or try HAPPYDAYS

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Thanks for the suggestions. My sister did try "happyday" and some other words my mother might use, but remember, she didn't use a password before. This just suddenly appeared. Since no one else has physical access to her computer, I'm suspecting malware, probably in the form of an email attachment.

Stuck in the present.

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